


Kindness of strangers

by TinyThoughts



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Geralt POV, Hugs, Hurt Jaskier | Dandelion, M/M, Modern AU, Pancakes, Sad, Short, Whump, being there for someone, but emotionally, cheating mentions, geralt is really kind, helping a stranger, jaskier is really bad at pancakes, long hugs, way too strong perfume
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27459673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyThoughts/pseuds/TinyThoughts
Summary: This is not what I expected. Slowly I put my arms around him, and it’s like I break something when I do. He presses his forehead against my shoulder thankfully, but a wail of despair tears from his throat. I can tell he is crying because my shirt is getting damp where he press his head against me. His fingers claws and grips my shirt, drawing it against himself, pressing us closer.I don’t know what to do. This stranger, this broken man in my arms in the middle of the night. How can I just tear free and leave?
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 2
Kudos: 45





	Kindness of strangers

**Author's Note:**

> Testing a new writing style, trying out the first person view!  
> I wrote this on my phone actually while on a walk (a little emotional and sad and alone as one is sometimes) and just felt that this. This had to happen. Enjoy!

It’s late.   
Too late to be out for a walk depending on who you are asking. And I’m asking me, so no, midnight is not that late.

I walk alone among the streets and houses. As I walk past the roundabout four motorbikes blast past.

On the next street over I get company. I smell them before I see them.   
Perfume and cigarettes. So strong I can actually feel the taste on my mouth.

I look up and see young man in front of me. He seems to be a little drunk, but he walk with a steady pace ahead.   
I’m three lamp posts away but I can still smell him.

Hell, I can even taste him.

I slow my pace, not wanting to get too close. The sound of our footsteps mingle in the silence, bouncing between the brick walls.

Suddenly the man in front of me stops. Leans against the wall. He seems to be getting smaller, curling in on himself.  
Is he trying to light another cigarette? Is he going to get sick?

I keep walking towards him, my house is only a block away. The perfume smell gets stronger for every step I take.   
It’s a nice smell but so strong it makes my eyes sting a little.

Im prepared to walk past him when I hear it.   
A sob.   
A heart wrenching, deeply felt sob.

I stop dead in my tracks and we the mans shoulders shake in restraint. His hair is a soft brown, bangs falling into his eyes. He has one arm clasped around himself, the other presses tightly against his mouth.

I’m only a few paces away, and must look like an absolute weirdo. I take a tentative step towards him, reaching out with my hand towards his shoulder.

“Hey. Are you alright?”

The man startles badly and press himself against the brick wall. Cornflower blue eyes stare up at me, tears and a little snot streaming down his face.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to scare you.” I say, I know I don’t come off as the most approachable or friendly dude.   
I’m big, tall and my long white hair make people look at me like I’m some kind of mobster.

“Are you alright?” I ask him again, because he looks a strong wind away from collapsing.

He looks at me for a moment longer, then his face crumples.   
He shoots forward from the wall and suddenly his arms are around me. He is taller than I thought, his head fitting nicely against the crook of my neck.

He press his entire body against mine, his cheek is wet and his nose cold agains my neck. This is not what I expected.

Slowly I put my arms around him, and it’s like I break something when I do.   
He presses his forehead against my shoulder thankfully, but a wail of despair tears from his throat. I can tell he is crying because my shirt is getting damp where he press his head against me. His fingers claws and grips my shirt, drawing it against himself, pressing us closer.

I don’t know what to do.

This stranger, this broken man in my arms in the middle of the night. How can I just tear free and leave?   
I won’t do that.   
I know what it’s like to feel that terrible, only I didn’t have somebody there to catch me.

I let my head rest against his, the stench of cigarettes almost overwhelming when I’m this close. Slowly, softly, I let my hands rub circles on his back.   
He is leaning heavily on me so I twist us a little so the brick wall will support us.

Us.

I suppose it is now.   
There is a comfort in ‘us’ somehow.

I hum, not really talking nor singing, just letting my voice vibrate through me. My ex Yen once told me it was like leaning agains a giant purring cat when I did that. She took comfort in it, so maybe he can too?

I don’t know how long we stand there. His arms are still tight around my ribs, his breath is still fast and uneven, but he doesn’t seem to cry anymore.   
I let my hand cradle the back of his neck.   
I don’t know why, it’s uncalled for and frankly a little creepy to do to a stranger. But I do it anyway, some strange instinct telling me this is what I must do.

“You will be ok,” I tell him. “One deep breath. Another, there you can do it.”

Being alone sucks. I hope this helps. After another long ten minutes it seems like he is done.   
His grip has slackened a little, the breaths evened out. There is a slight tremble in his shoulders.

“Feel any better?” I ask him, trying to make him look up at me. He doesn’t but I can make out a mumbled “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” I say, still rubbing circles into his back. “Do you live far from here?”

There are a few seconds of silence before he sighs and pulls away. It’s cold without him against me.

“Not anymore.” He smiles sadly and puts his hands in his pockets. He looks so miserable and broken.

“I uh... I found him with someone else in our bed. I didn’t think, I just left.”

Fuck. _Fuck_.

I can’t.

“You can crash at my place tonight if you want to.” I offer this complete stranger. I don’t even know his name. He also haven’t met my eyes since he broke down.

“Sorry, shit, that sounds totally suspicious huh? But I’ve been there so... I know how it feels not to have anywhere to go. I’m Geralt.”

Finally he looks up at me. He is absolutely drunk and he should not be out here.

“Jaskier.” He says, a slow smile finding his lips. “And thank you. I uh... I guess it’s that or sleeping on the street tonight.”

I lead him with me that last block. His perfume and cigarette smell is still overwhelming as he walks up the stairs to my flat.

I give him a T-shirt and send him into the shower while I carry pillows and blankets to the couch.   
He looks a little better when he exits the bathroom.   
He absolutely smells better now.

We don’t speak, just make sure he has what he needs for the night before I settle into my own bedroom. This was one weird night.

The morning turns out to be even weirder.  
When I open my eyes and return to awareness I do so to the smell of pancakes.

I pad barefoot across the floor into the kitchen just to see my stray stand there in my slightly too big T-shirt, trying and failing to flip a pancake in the air.

He looks a little better. I lean in the doorway for a moment just watching him in the sunlight.

When he notice me he startles just as badly as the last time and almost drops the frying pan.

“Shit! Fuck!” He struggles to catch it, but the pancake is destroyed. He frowns at it and puts it on a plate next to the stove with three other failed attempts.

“Morning.” I say, amused. He is so at ease in my space. It’s weird. I scratch my bare chest and cracks a yawn.

“Are any of those gonna be salvageable?” I catch him staring at me with a slight blush on his cheeks. It’s a good look on him.

“I uh... fuck, sorry, I was just thinking I could make breakfast as... thanks...”

“It’s all good.” I say again, another yawn breaking free. “Jaskier was is?”

“Yeah.” He puts a new load of batter in the pan and it sizzles promisingly.

We share breakfast.   
Some of the pancakes were good enough to eat. Jaskier seems like he is starving and I know crying is a hungry business.

We talk a little, my cheap coffee working as a icebreaker. After almost an hour Jaskier declares he must go back.   
Not home, just back.

“Do you have any friends you can stay with?” I ask him when he puts on his shoes, knowing that he probably doesn’t. Why else would he end up here, with me? I feel a pang of something, sympathy.

“It will be alright.” He says with a smile. “Thank you for everything. And I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” My arms are crossed in front of me, all I wanna do is just scoop him up in another hug. To make things alright again, to make that awful sad go away.

“See you around, Geralt.” He says, another smile and a little wave as he disappears down the stairs.

I hope we will, I think silently to myself

**Author's Note:**

> Come get hugs on Tumblr! Im Dapandapod!


End file.
